Sun visors are provided in vehicles, such as automobiles, to block the sun from shining directly into an occupant's eyes. The visor usually pivots about a horizontal axis and can be stored in an uppermost position above, for example, a windshield. Conventional visors have a fixed size and are generally unable to block the sun, when the sun's ray is at a certain position.
It is known to provide a sliding extender blade that slides horizontally toward a center of a windshield to provide additional sun blocking area. Further, when the visor is pivoted to the side window, coverage is extended toward the "B-Pillar." However, previous designs have used extra parts, such as a bezel, to cover and "dress-up" the edges of the aperture through which the blade extends. In addition, because most extender blades are plastic, plastic-to-plastic contact with the bezel and/or visor body results. The plastic-to-plastic contact produces unwanted noise and an unpleasant "feel" for the user when extending and retracting an extender blade.
Another known device has a housing that attaches to a pre-existing sun visor and includes a pair of extendible panels to increase the sun blocking area of the original sun visor. One panel extends horizontally and the other panel extends vertically. A protective pad is attached to the outer surface of one panel to act as a buffer between the relatively moving panels.
However, the prior sun visors have poor appearance and poor operational "feel." Known visors include bezels to improve the appearance, but additional parts increase cost and assembly time. Noise is another drawback of existing sun visors having extendible blades with bezels. Plastic-to-plastic contact produces noisy operation.